Assessing growth kinetics using the present apparatuses and methods available for can be a labor intensive process requiring an undue amount of resources and time. For example, one apparatus and method for assessing the height of a plant required at least two people. The first person would hold a measuring tool upright relative to the plant and raise or extend the tool until the top of the tool approached the top of the plant, at least from the first person's perspective. The second would stand far enough back of the first person to confirm that the top of the tool was indeed at the top of the plant. The first person alone could not accurately position the tool's top at the height of the plant due to parallax error, ergo the second person's perspective is needed to confirm when the tool and plant are level with each other. Continuing with this same scenario and as with other examples of tools used to assess plant growth kinetics, the process of identifying plants, recording growth data specific to the plants and storing the growth data can be cumbersome, time consuming and ultimately result in an undue allocation of business resources, human or otherwise.
A need has therefore been identified in the art for a more efficient way of monitoring growth kinetics for a target plant structure, and more specifically characterizing the height and/or ear height of a target plant structure from ground level, as well as identifying, recording and storing growth data using a portable plant height and ear height measuring device.